MZ-R55 Deteriorating Battery Life

[wenglock]

Hi there...

I own a 7-year old MZ-R55 minidisc recorder and recently, I've noticed an exponential decrease in the battery life of this unit, even when using 2 Energizer Lithium AA batteries in the external battery pack. The recording capability hardly lasts for 1/2 hour before it dies.

I bought this unit way back in April 1999, so I'm wondering if age has anything to do with it. It has given false battery level readings before so I'm just wondering if this is a common occurrence with this model?

Thanks for all your kind help!

[Skradgee]

The gumstick rechargeable battery should be expected to have decreased battery life over time, but I can't see any reason why you'd experience poor battery life when using fresh AA batteries...unless the anti-skip protection is working overtime or something like that. Using only AAs with an MZ-R55, I used to fill 80 minute discs with live recordings and the batteries would maybe have half their life left after that. Now I have a rechargeable battery to use with the AAs, but that deck doesn't get used much anymore.

Maybe you're par for the course and really getting what you should be for battery life…not sure why it would seem like less. Are you using the rechargeable battery with the AAs?

[Mr_Bass_Man]

Your problem could be caused by a number of things :-

1) Your gumstick battery is developing a high internal resistance with age. Buy a new one.

The R55 (I have two, both of them acquired second-hand quite recently so my experience is limited) appears to be quite heavy on batteries anyway (and quite heavy on your foot should you drop it there !! ) and the fact that it has been exercised hard over its life may be the reason why your battery has served you so well up to now. In my experience of rechargable batteries in general, is that the harder they have to work for a living (within reason) the longer they stay somewhere near peak efficiency.

2) Your R55 may have developed relatively poor electrical connections in the gumstick holder (the positive connection is through the hinge on the battery compartment flap - this may cause problems if it becomes oxidised or corroded) - it might be worth cleaning it up with a cotton bud, and possibly the negative connection down deep inside the gumstick compartment. This would probably only affect internal battery life though.

3) Your R55 is just aging, and one or more of the internal components used for monitoring battery voltage has aged, and is feeding wrong information about battery condition into the control circuitry. This might affect both internal and external batteries.

4) Your R55 is just aging, and something is taking more current from the battery than it used to, possibly something like the motor bearings wearing out and taking more power to turn the motor. (This would be common to the drain on the internal and external batteries). You might be able to measure this, and compare with someone else's.

Hope this helps

Edited April 2, 2006 by Mr_Bass_Man

[wenglock]

Hi all,

Thanks for your kind feedback.

I am actually using 2 Energizer lithium AA batteries with the external battery pack. I'm guessing very likely, it's either the electrical connections from the battery pack to the player are getting old & corroded or the parts are wearing out and need more current to operate.

I shall get it checked out by a Sony service centre. Still works marvelously by the way, which is why I'm reluctant to replace it.

Cheers...

[ATELETRONICS]

MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT USING THE GUMSTICK BATTERY AT ALL TO SEE IF THATS THE PROBLEM. I MISS MY R55 IT LOOKED SO COOL.